A note about Conservatives hired by Albany County Democrats

What with all the heat and noise in the last week over the appointment by County Executive Dan McCoy of Thomas Marcelle as the next county attorney, it’s worth noting that Albany County Democrats already employ two lawyers who are or have been enrolled in the Conservative Party.

And one of them — Jamie Kallner, counsel the legislature’s Democratic majority — makes even more than Marcelle would.

Kallner, who succeeded longtime Democratic counsel William Conboy, is the top lawyer to legislature’s 29 Democrats, including those now opposing McCoy’s pick of Marcelle.

Kallner makes $115,000 a year, according to the budget, which is about $21,000 less than Conboy but $5,000 more than Marcelle would make as attorney for the whole county.

Of course, the Democrats opposing Marcelle are not (publicly, anyway) doing it because of his voter enrollment. Instead, they’re taking issue with his connection to the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative national organization that uses litigation to further its agenda opposing same-sex marriage, abortions and the separation of church and state.

On that score, the Empire State Pride Agenda is set to weigh in Tuesday morning, which figures to only further ratchet up the pressure already being exerted by the local LGBT community on McCoy and legislative Democrats backing Marcelle.

Stack said he was mystified by the push-back from the legislature, on which there are at least 13 Democrats who ran and won last year with Conservative Party backing. They include Chairman Shawn Morse and Majority Leader Frank Commisso, who holds most sway over the majority’s hiring.

Add to that the 10-member Republican/Conservative minority and the odds seem to tip in favor of Marcelle’s eventual confirmation — though those opposing him say the vote might be close.

“I just find it amazing that the county attorney position, which is the selection of the county executive, is being challenged by the left wing of the county Legislature,” Stack said. “You’d think he’s being vetted by these left wingers like he’s being appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Stack even went a step further, saying the opponents’ actions amount to a muddying of the distinction between church and state, one of the aims of the ADF that they say troubles them.

“This is s a mixture of church and state,” Stack said. “These people here, they want to be judge and jury.”

Update: I should have noted in my original post that those skeptical of the motivations of those opposing Marcelle point to the fact that Libby Post, the political/communications consultant and LGBT activist who started the anti-Marcelle campaign, lists the Port of Albany among her clients.

Commisso, who wrestled for influence with McCoy as McCoy rose to power in the legislature, works as business manager for the Albany Port District Commission that runs the port. And, to complete Albany County political circle, Stack works there, too, as the port’s rail director.

Correction: Stack works at the port for the Port Railroad but not for the port commission.

Post, however, has flatly denied that her opposition to Marcelle has anything to do with Commisso or intra-party Democratic squabbling, saying she has not spoken to the longtime Democratic power broker in some time.

21 Responses

Perhaps, people should keep in mind that the distinction between the Conservative and the Democratic parties was pretty much wiped out by the machine years ago. Albany’s machine democrats have been the force behind maintaining the status quo for years.

Comparing an Albany Democrat machine to county conservative is like comparing a Leninist to a Stalinist, or Cuban communism to Angolan communism, or Morocan Kouskous to lebaneses kouskous or miley cyrus to kelly clarkson. Whats the difference?

E Plurubus caries unum merda
Out of a lot of corruption, one pile of poop.

Marcelle is way more conservative than Albany County Democrats endorsed by the Conservative Party.

There was surely a backroom deal between McCoy and Stack — the Conservative endorsement in exchange for at least one major patronage job.

McCoy evidently does not care that Marcelle is a very conservative Republican who has run as a Republican for district attorney and Supreme Court judge unsuccessfully, and Bethlehem town board successfully.

Or that Marcelle was nominated for the federal bench by George W. Bush, and has worked for years for the county GOP and for the far-right Alliance Defense Fund.

It should be noted I am not an employee of the Albany Port District. I am employed by the railroad as the General Manger of the Albany Port Railroad, a seperate company with NO affiliation with the Albany Port district commission. We perform railroad service for the Ports tenants.

As to Albany Common Sense, I as chairman have eliminated 100s of Democratic Interlopers from our Parties election rolls County wide.

Our major problem deals with the Neo Conservatives who feel that they should be decreed our endorsement irrelevant of there quailfications.

Many such as ACS lack organization and commitment to participate in the system and coward behind there blog names so as to not expose there short comings and failures.

I have no idea what organization you are talking about, unless you are one of these cowards who think I am someone I am not. I’ve already embarrased a bunch of haters.

And stop the conservative crap, you are not a conservative. You are an old machine democrat who found a way to be relevant when the conservative party was formed. Under your leadership you turned the conservative party into the CONservative party.

You still have not explained how YOU endorsed a candidate, McCoy, who is on record for supporting gay marriage. Ive asked you a million times and a million times you go away or the post is deleted. The real conservatives and progressives want to know.

Or how you can cross endorse candidates along with the WFP.

Or like I posted on my blog, with a picture to prove it, back McCoy for having a fundraiser in a gay bar with your full support.

How did that interview with whalen go, BTW?

Could it be that Karen scharff has more intergrity than you? And bring up the troy wfp scandal, they are just doing what you and the machine used to do back in the hood in the early 80s. Ah good ole third st back in da day!

What on earth is Mr. Stack talking about? A “mixture of church and state”? How so? The county legislature wants “to be judge and jury”? What does that mean?

Members of the legislature are opposed to Mr. Marcelle because he has taken a policy position that they consider objectionable (i.e., strident opposition to gay marriage/equality). As a result of those policy positions, members of the legislature are opposing his appointment. This is pretty unremarkable stuff. How on earth Mr. Stack gets from that to the constitutional issue of separation of church and state is beyond me and really makes no sense at all. The opposition to Mr. Marcelle is based on his political beliefs not his religious affiliation. Mr. Stack appears to be arguing that certain political beliefs are so connected to a person’s religion that opposing that person’s appointment based on those political beliefs violates the separation of church and state? That is complete nonsense. For a so-called conservative, Mr. Stack appears to lack the most basic understanding of the Constitution.

Nice to hear from you. Care to enlighten us on how you personally gave Brian Scavo the conservative party endorsement? I know a few conservtives that questioned Mr. Scavo’s conservative ways. Further, a few cons I know claim he never even met with the Conservative Committee for the endorsement. Is he the caliber of candidate others need to aspire to in order to get your blessing?

Anyway you cut this, Marcelle was supported by former President Bush for a judgeship, and that should be the first hint for Democrats–and Republicans who are savvy–that they should treat Marcelle as a political untouchable and distance themselves from him as the national parties did from the former El Presidente.

Well I have watched the Conservative Party aka Stack work in Colonie and it was mean spirited and just a disgrace.
This party really needs to reevalute what they stand for and who is leading them.
He seems to be out for himself and himself only.

Please stop with the “Marcelle was almost a Federal judge” nonsense. He was nominated by Bush as a political favor at a time when there was zero possibility the nomination would ever be considered, much less voted up.

Watch the list for “potential Court of Appeals appointees” next time ther e is an opening. You will see at least 2 or 3 names which are always on the lsit but have no chance of the appointment. Same thing.

Albany Common Sense- I think you raise fair and just questions; that seem to go unanswered…again. Perhaps that is your answer.

Mr. Stack- If you think you run a conservative political party, you are obviously working for the Albany Democrats.

Conservatives don’t back a tax and spend liberal like Dan McCoy, Frank Commission-o and the like, pa-lease.

What you do run, is a New York version of a conservative political party, which is Democrat-lite. Your party is a joke and you have the numbers to prove it. I’ve never seen so many tax and spend liberals backed by a “conservative” party this side of the moon.

@Elmer: it absolutely does matter that he was nominated, even if he had no shot at being confirmed by the Senate. Why? Nominees are often ideologically in line with the person who nominates them, and if we consider the fact that Bush nominated Marcelle, Bush’s ideology, and Marcelle’s participation with entities that share Bush’s perspective, it absolutely adds up to a situation where no reasonable Democrat would support Marcelle unless it was for political payback.

As to Dan Mc Coy. He had to play the hand delt him by the Breslin adminstration.

When he ran there were no opponents at first then the name Nate Labrone appeared supported by a splinter group of Republicans. Nate never came in for an interview and he never secured the amount of signatures necessary to qualify.

As to the Colonie comment you must of seen the overtime and over budget expenditures again by the Mahan Admn.

Lock up your children and your house the tax man is coming….

PS 4 years till colonie has to put in $1.5 million more for the absorbed workers from the land fill and still is paying .20 on dollar state retirement ….Good deal???

McCoy had to play the hand dealt by the Breslins? Richie, I’ve attended many meetings and have never seen you there. I assure you the only one that had to play the hand dealt them was Breslin with the cards dealt by Danny and the Legislature through hiring freezes and road blocks to any move proposed by the exec’s office. Curious to see McCoy now stating the legislature needs to work with the executive when he was the driver of most confrontations between the two when he was on the legislature.

So for all you local electeds, if you want the Conservative Party endorsement from Richie Stack, just model your careers after Brian Scavo and Dan McCoy (i.e. kick the county exec in the teeth any opportunity you can!) Marcelle may be a good start.

Richie, thank you for answering these questions. Didn’t dismiss it like usual.

Scavo (not Scalvo) – You are correct. He has repeatedly claimed he was against taxes. Thanks to the good lord, he is no longer my rep. All of his creepy activities and his history (allegedly) is not enough for the CONservative party to question supporting a character like Scavo. OK, innocent until proven guilty, I can get with that.

“As to Dan Mc Coy. He had to play the hand delt him by the Breslin adminstration.” Cute! Still does not explain satisfactorily why the CONs supported a man who supported gay marriage (a no-no for the conservatives) who voted for more taxes and more spending in the 12 years he was in office (another no-no for conservatives). He failed both the social conservative test and the fiscal conservative test. Even the head of the RFK club could have passed the fiscal test. You are supposed to blame it on Rio, not Breslin.

“When he ran there were no opponents at first then the name Nate Labrone appeared supported by a splinter group of Republicans. Nate never came in for an interview and he never secured the amount of signatures necessary to qualify.”

Lebron (not Lebrone) – True on the signatues and the splinter group who supported him. The Lebron attempt at getting on the ballot was way after you claimed that you could not interview Whalen due to the lateness of her announcement. Why would anyone interview with a group who had already closed their doors on an earlier candidate? Here is the piece in case you forgot: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Whalen-wants-Albany-County-executive-job-1387279.php

Even Cleary thinks it was an underhanded deal to guarantee the nomination to McCoy. And this guy knows!

Colonie, well, who cares. The GOP unwillingness to run anyone at the top of the ticket is why Sheehan lost that election along with all the other close races in other towns. And that’s not opinion, that statistical data.

The reason the ticket was clear was of your own doing along with Cleary and the town chairs. So before you claim how bad Colonie is, start by apologizing for suppressing the GOP vote countywide thus resulting in another term for the very mismanagement you now deride.

I find poetic justice in keeping the top of the ticket clear for the GOP, Sheehan loses a race which now affects you directly in your own back yard. Indians may have Karma, but we have short sighted political greed. Ha Ha!

There must be at least 500 Democratic attorneys residing in Albany County and McCoy picks a life-long-Republicn-recently turned Conservative lawyer to be his county attorney? Not only that but the County Legislature, it is now revealed, only employs Conservatives as it’s legal counsels? One has to believe that if you are a Democratic lawyer residing in Albany County, with designs on a job in local government, you would be better off looking for an opportunity in Schenectady and/or Troy. Apparently, Democrats are now persona-non-grata in Albany’s political circles, if posts about the Marcelle debacle are true.